Thermaltake Level 10 GT Preview

While we were visiting Thermaltake's super new 'Engineering Bay,' we spotted the brand new Level 10 GT case sitting on a desk, and promptly started snapping some shots of this affordable take on the company's ultra-expensive alternative PC case, the Level 10.

During the exposé, a helpful Thermaltake techy came over to explain the case's nifty features, of which we quickly realised there are about a gazillion. However, as you can see, the design is clearly a case of function over form. It has an appearance that only its mother could love, but then the word 'subtle' was never really a part of Thermaltake's design vocabulary anyway.

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The design follows the Level 10's lead with its oversized side panel, although this time the whole case doesn't protrude and lean on it. Instead, the Level 10 GT is your standard black box that stands on its own four, adjustable feet.

There are six USB ports on the front of the case, split between the roof-accessible USB 3 ports and four USB 2 ports lined up on the front. These are also joined by the Power and Reset buttons, as well as eSATA, headphone and microphone connectors, and even buttons to control the fan-speed and the fan LEDs. Unfortunately, though, the USB 3 ports don't connect to the new internal USB 3 plug, so you'll instead have to route them externally to your motherboard's rear I/O ports.

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There's also space for four 5.25in drive bays, one external 3.5in drive bay and five hot-swappable 3.5in hard drive bays, which look very similar to those in the original Level 10. Internally, those hot-swappable cages are cleverly pre-daisy-chained together with SATA power plugs that conveniently plug into a single SATA power connector on your PSU. It's a very neat and clever arrangement, although we now really want to try out the drive bays to see if they really work. The 5.25in bays also now have a tool-free design, and you can get to them from one side without even removing the whole side panel too. Again, though, the end result is one that very much sacrifices aesthetics in favour of practicality.